BayStars finish with winning record in interleague play

YOKOHAMA – Yokohama’s Yasutomo Kubo limited the damage to one run in seven innings and the bullpen held their opponent hitless the rest of the way as the BayStars defeated the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 2-1 to wrap up interleague play on Thursday.

The BayStars finished with a 13-11 record in interleague games, the first time in seven years the team has posted a winning record against the Pacific League.

Kubo (5-4) scattered three hits, struck out eight and walked none. He never allowed a runner to reach third at Yokohama Stadium. Tomoya Mikami had a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out the final two batters to notch his 11th save. Fighters starter Naoyuki Uwasawa (6-4) was tagged with the loss.

Cuban slugger Yulieski Gurriel put Yokohama on the scoreboard with a first-inning sacrifice fly before the Fighters tied it 1-1 on Takuya Nakashima’s RBI double in the third. Taketoshi Goto delivered a tiebreaking RBI single in the bottom half of the inning as the hosts took the lead for good.

The Fighters finished with an 11-12 record with one tie in interleague, the first time in eight years they posted a losing record against the Central League.